Black spray in engine bay - factory?
#1
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Location: Austin, TX
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Car: 90 Formula / T-tops
Engine: 305 TPI
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Black spray in engine bay - factory?
i have this black spray. It’s hard, not like road tar. It’s been there as long as I can remember. It doesn’t appear to be on anything but body of car, so it seems impossible that it came from the road. Is this from the factory? It not on car anywhere else except engine bay
#4
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Car: 90 Formula / T-tops
Engine: 305 TPI
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Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
not on engine parts, just sheet metal of engine bay. not thick, scattered. no need for rust proofing in southern Texas
#6
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Axle/Gears: 3.70 9"ford alum chunk,dana44,9bolt
Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
Yup, factory undercoating.
#9
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Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
thanks for clearing this up, a big relief! been weighing on my mind. Do I clean this sh**t up, or do I say, forgetttaboutit....
#10
Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
It'll come off. Hard part is removing it without removing the paint. The color under the car is mostly just overspray, no clear coat, so it comes off pretty easy if you scrub it.
#11
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Transmission: 700R4 4800 vig 18th700R4 t56 ZF6 T5
Axle/Gears: 3.70 9"ford alum chunk,dana44,9bolt
Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
If you want it off, something that's worked for me is soaking it with trans fluid or parts washer solvent and gently wiping it.
#12
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Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
Thanks for your help guys. I'll probably leave it on there. My goal with the car is to keep as much from the factory as possible and/or period correct while keeping it driveable. Trying to make a time capsule out of this one. it would be a blast to pick up another Formula and make it a modern day street car, but I have another project waiting that will likely supersede that dream.
#13
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Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
Factory random sloppiness is hard to faithfully reproduce. With that said, I've had some luck removing stuff like that with a claybar.
#16
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#17
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Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
There was a belt dressing back in the 90's that would also leave splatter like that inline with the belts-- but I think the under coating is what you see here.
#18
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Car: 90 Formula / T-tops
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Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
ya, i’m 99.99% certain now that i understand what i’m looking at. same texture and was sprayed before engine made it into the bay
#19
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Location: Doghouse ······································ Car: 1989 Formula 350 Vert Engine: 350 L98 Transmission: 700R4 Axle/Gears: B&W 3.27
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Re: Black spray in engine bay - factory?
might try removing it with mineral spirits, it might cut it without removing paint. I would definitely check somewhere inconspicuous on a Q-tip before I tried it tho...
But again, anything you do will make a smeary mess, and then you have to clean that up too... I would leave it alone personally, unless you are planning on repainting the area anyway.
John
But again, anything you do will make a smeary mess, and then you have to clean that up too... I would leave it alone personally, unless you are planning on repainting the area anyway.
John
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